Survival Mode

Survival Mode

Pancreatic cancer survivor Lenny White is riding the road to recovery

One morning, Lenny White looked in the mirror to see jaundiced eyes staring
back at him. He checked another mirror just to be sure it wasn’t poor
lighting in the room and immediately called his internist. Tests quickly
revealed an unsettling diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. “I know about your
chances with pancreatic cancer,” White says. “But I am a fighter no matter
what happens to me. I figure you fight and you get better. I didn’t see
myself dying from pancreatic cancer.”

A few days later, White met chief of the Division of General Surgery and
acclaimed pancreatic cancer surgeon Mark Callery, M.D., and knew he was in
good hands. “I don’t know how many doctors would have taken the case,
because on the surface it didn’t look too good,” White says. A week and a
half after the diagnosis, Callery performed a Whipple procedure to remove
the tumor navigating a one-millimeter margin between the tumor and the
superior mesenteric vein and only a one-tenth of a millimeter margin to the
superior mesenteric artery. “I feel there are two reasons I am here on this
Earth today,” White explains. “Number one is God and number two is God’s
assistant, Dr. Callery. It is as simple as that.”

White’s positive outlook on his diagnosis stayed with him through recovery
and follow-up care. Much to his caregivers’ surprise, he insisted on
walking the day after his surgery. “I said I am not going to lie in bed
like a piece of gefilte fish,” White recalls. An avid kayaker, cyclist, and
horseback rider, he stayed as active as possible throughout his treatment.
During five months of chemotherapy, White walked home to Brookline from the
hospital on many days, and then during radiation, he rode his bike to and
from the medical center nearly every day. It was only for the final three
days when exhaustion and nausea finally forced him to catch a ride.

With his treatment regimen completed and his cancer firmly in remission,
White recently rode his bike back to the medical center for a different
reason. In recognition of the outstanding care he received, he donated
$50,000 to the Callery Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund and $50,000 to the
BIDMC Campus Transformation Fund. But he wasn’t finished. Since last fall,
White has generously pledged $300,000 in total to the medical center to
advance its top priorities. “I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am,”
he says. “I’m also grateful for my parents for the way they raised me and
for teaching me the value of Tzedakah, or charity. When you get up to
heaven, it is better to have a pocket full of receipts than a checkbook you
hope you might do something with.”